Dr. Guilherme Silva Pires de Freitas
Guest professor in the Postgraduate Program in Social Change and Political Participation (PROMUSPP) and a Postdoctoral researcher in the University of São Paulo (Brazil).
Email: guilhermespfreitas@usp.br / guilhermespfreitas@alumni.usp.br
Dr. Felipe Antonio Honorato
Professor in the Postgraduate Program in African Studies and Representations of Africa (PPGEARA – Bahia State University, Brazil).
E-mail: felipe.honorato@alumni.usp.br / felipehonorato@uneb.br
In contemporary Western Europe, there were two main immigration processes: the formation of large immigrant communities attracted to boost local labor markets and migratory movements through colonial and post-colonial networks. Within this framework, the Congolese diaspora in Belgium can be seen as an atypical case.
In other former colonial metropolises the intensification of migratory flows from the then colonies to the then metropolises began with the consequences of the Second World War. In Belgium, this “influx” movement only began at the end of the 1980s. The First (1960-1965) and Second (1965-1997) Congolese republics represented a continuation of the old migratory dynamics established between the two countries in colonial times: while the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was a colony, immigration to Belgium was extremely limited.
Officially, there was no immigration during the colonial period. The few residents of Congolese origin in Belgium were students or occasional visitors. There are two reasons for this: firstly, there was a great need for workers in Congo itself for industrial and agricultural exploitation; secondly, the metropolitan political elites were concerned about the racial homogeneity of Belgium.
However, between the 1990s and the early 2000s, a series of political, economic, and social instabilities reversed this situation, originating numerous and periodical migratory flows between the DRC and Belgium: the decline of Joseph Mobutu’s dictatorship (1990-1997), the First Congo War (1996-1997), and the Second Congo War (1998-2003).
In 2006, there were officially 26,909 Congolese citizens living in Belgium. The estimation, however, was that the total number was around around 80,000 individuals including undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers. This migratory context reverberated in football: while the so-called “Golden generation” of Belgium men’s football had names of Congolese origin (as Romelu Lukaku and Vincent Kompany), the Congolese national team that qualified to the 2026 World Cup also has numerous players that were born, spent their youth, or live in Belgium.
The squad called up by the French coach Sébastien Desabre for the 2026 World Cup includes five players born in Belgium: Matthieu Epolo, Joris Kayembe, Noah Sadiki, Ngal’ayel Mukau, and Théo Bongonda. All of them played for Belgium’s youth national teams, from under-16 to under-21, before opting to represent the DRC at the professional level. In addition to them, 15 other players were born in Europe, especially in France. In total, only six players were born in the DRC.
This phenomenon is becoming increasingly frequent for African national teams. In the last African Cup of Nations (AFCON), held between 2025 and 2026 in Morocco, almost 30% of all participating players were born in Europe. This movement is strictly linked to the effects of the globalization of football, which was intensified mainly after the enactment of the Bosman ruling in 1995.
Marc Jean Bosman, then a player for Royal Liège, decided not to renew his contract and transfer to Union Sportive Dunkerque in France. The Belgian team wanted financial compensation and blocked the transaction. Bosman had his contract suspended and took legal action in the European Union based on Article 48 of the Treaty of Rome. In December 1995, the court ruled in favor of the player, arguing that as a European citizen he could not be prevented from working in another member country of the European Union.
The Bosman ruling was the trigger that made European football highly globalized and the main professional center of the sport in the world, which increasingly relies on athletes from the Global South.
The multicultural composition of the Congolese national team further demonstrates how football has become a field of discussion about identity and belonging in an increasingly interconnected society. Many of these athletes could play for the Belgian national team, given that they played in Belgium’s youth categories in the past; however, they chose to represent the homeland of their ancestors, reflecting not only a professional decision but also an opportunity to reaffirm their origins and cultural ties through diasporic networks.
The case of the Congolese national team that will compete in the 2026 World Cup further demonstrates the paradoxes of globalization. While African players go to Europe at a very young age to play for European clubs, African national teams benefit from the existence of diasporic communities that allow descendants to represent them and reinforce their transnational identities.
Also, the case of DRC shows how contemporary national teams are no longer defined solely by place of birth, but by the complex historical, identity-related, familial, and cultural connections that link individuals to nations on different continents.
